Canada has taken an historic leap towards securing its long-term interests in the Asia-Pacific region by joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations, according to John Manley, the president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. It’s not an opinion that will find favour among many of his former Liberal Party colleagues, who appear more interested in domestic partisan, rather than long-term strategic, advantage.

“Can the Conservative government give Canadians assurances that our supply management system will be preserved under this new agreement? asked Wayne Easter, the party’s trade critic.

But there’s no doubt accepting the invitation to join the TPP, a nine country trade negotiation that will cover 658 million people with a combined GDP of $20-trillion, is, potentially, a very big deal indeed. What we don’t know yet is whether Canada has bought a cat in a bag. It may be an historic leap but is it a leap into the dark?

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No one is being very forthcoming about what we have signed up for — certainly not the Prime Minister, who told reporters in Los Cabos, Mexico, Tuesday he did not intend to get into talking specifics.

But trade sources suggest Canada and Mexico were told they could not re-open any agreements that had already been reached by the nine existing members – the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore, Chile, Peru and Malaysia. Apparently, the prospective new entrants were asked to agree to this condition without even seeing the existing text.

The invitation letter sent to Canada and Mexico also said they would not have the same veto powers over the remaining chapters that the nine original members have – effectively making them second-class members.

That Stephen Harper preferred a potentially flawed deal to no deal speaks to his government’s determination to expand trade in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr. Harper said nothing had been sacrificed. “Canada has not agreed to any specific measures,” he said.

That Stephen Harper preferred a potentially flawed deal to no deal speaks to his government’s determination to expand trade in the Asia-Pacific region

Yet the announcement in Los Cabos almost did not happen because Canadian negotiators were so concerned they may sign up to a final deal that could cause political pain, without the right of veto. Mr. Harper downplayed the suggestion, but the price was sufficiently high as recently as Sunday evening for Canadian negotiators to “down tools,” in the words of one official.

Mr. Harper said his government has a strong record of defending Canadian interests at trade talks but it will be interesting to see if his government, in particular Gerry Ritz, the agriculture minister, will be quite so emphatic in their defence of supply management in the days to come.

Mr. Ritz has claimed that consumers wouldn’t benefit from an end to the protected system that critics claim raises prices – and could even lead to safety issues from imported milk.

Don Davies, the NDP’s new trade critic, raised the issue in the House of Commons, where he asked whether the government had given in to the demands of Big Pharma or sold out poultry and egg farmers. “What is the price Canada has paid for entry to the TPP?” he said.

The NDP has been criticized justifiably for its trade policy, going back to its “NAFTA, NAFTA, We don’t have ta” days. Maude Barlow of the ludicrous Council of Canadians was out front again, claiming the TPP is another trade negotiation that “will only benefit the 1%.” She seems to believe that if two wrongs don’t make a right, try three.

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But Mr. Davies has promised an “intelligent, balanced and well-structured” fresh perspective on trade. He is right to ask for more information on what concessions have been made to get to the table. When it comes to finding out what is happening on any given trade deal, it pays to talk to everyone but the Canadian delegation, who are tighter than two coats of paint when it comes to divulging information.

Still, the Prime Minister is in a hurry to do deals in Asia, where Canada’s market share is below potential and we currently have no trade agreements.

Canada’s share of world exports has been declining since 2000 and export growth has been lagging the global average by around five percentage points annually.

Much of this loss of market share is because Canada is under-exposed to growing markets in Asia. A completed TPP deal would help arrest that decline, particularly if Japan becomes a member, as seems possible.

Emerging markets account for one half of the growth in global imports – a massive new middle class that is a potential market for all kinds of Canadian goods and services.

The prize is a worthy one. Whether it justifies the price of admission, we have no way of knowing – and Mr. Harper is, once again, urging us to just trust him.

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